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"Do people have fun in Africa?"

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A powerful question from Tanzanian blogger Ndesanjo Macha:

…Africa stands for a lot more than the press –- sorry folks, the U.S. press –- gives it credit for. I pointed this out a few weeks ago: Using a simple search method at the New York Times, the terms “AIDS” + “Africa” brought back 250 stories published in the past year. What I didn’t say then was that searching the terms “Africa” + “fun” returned 91 hits. … Searching “Africa” + “pleasure” = 69 hits, most of them in movies.

So, where is the fun?

It’s a theme that TEDGlobal speaker Andrew Mwenda, a journalist himself, develops in his TEDTalk: Too often, the world’s image of Africa is driven by news stories of AIDS, corruption, hopelessness. When we open our eyes to the broader picture, we can see Africa as a place to build, to do business, to tell stories, to have fun.